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22 October 2014

Review: 'Confessions of a Paris Potty Trainer' by Vicki Lesage (2014)

Diapers, tantrums, and French bureaucracy - the crazy life of an American Mom in Paris.

Party Girl is back, this time as the sassy mommy of two kids trying to navigate the beautiful, yet infuriating, city of Paris.

How does she steer a stroller around piles of dog poop? How does she find time for French administration between breastfeeding and business meetings? And can she ever lose the baby weight with croissants staring her in the face from every street corner?

Answers to these pressing questions - and many more - are in this hilarious sequel. Laugh, cry, and wipe up drool right alongside Vicki as she and her ever-patient French husband raise two children in the City of Light.

In May this year I got the chance to read and review Vicki Lesage’s debut novel ‘Confessions of a Paris Party Girl’ (click here to read my review and an interview with Vicki Lesage!). The book is a collection of Vicki Lesage’s stories of her time living in Paris, which started out as blog posts. I’m not a big fan of memoirs, but I ended up really enjoying reading about Vicki’s experiences in France. So, I was really excited when Vicki contacted me a few months ago about possibly reviewing the sequel to her first book, ‘Confessions of a Paris Potty Trainer.’ I looked forward to reading more about Vicki’s experiences in the famous city of love, especially since this time we are introduced to a new main character, her first baby!

Vicki is still living her life in the wonderful city of Paris; trying to find her way as an American in the land of the French. After having found the love of her life and discovering she is pregnant with her first child, big changes are around the corner and Vicki’s life is about to become completely different from what she’s used to. The hunt for a new and bigger apartment in the French capital is forming quite a challenge, and Vicki has to do it all without the support of a glass of wine. As soon as the baby is born, Vicki’s life is completely taken over by him and as a reader we are invited to join Vicki and her husband on their Parisian adventures with a newborn...

I really enjoyed the chance of going back to the city of Paris and once again joining Vicki on her everyday adventures as an American in France. The great thing about this memoir is that Vicki Lesage managed to make the reading experience feel like you are chatting to a friend and laughing at her life stories. She has a great and fun outlook on life and with these collections of stories she has found a great way to share her experiences with the world. The book isn’t complicated or boring; it’s filled with funny anecdotes, is fast-paced and basically just really entertaining.

Personally, I would definitely recommend reading ‘Confessions of a Paris Party Girl’ before picking up this one, because I think you will enjoy it more if you know the characters and the history. In this sequel, there’s one new main character and that’s Leonardo, Vicki’s newborn son, and it was great fun to see what kind of situations Vicki and her husband found themselves in. I’m sure many parents will be able to relate to Vicki’s experiences, but if you’re not thinking about children just yet the stories are definitely entertaining as well. Overall, ‘Confessions of a Paris Potty Trainer’ is another thoroughly enjoyable book that is light-hearted, easy to read and filled with funny, entertaining stories. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a third part of the series!